The cost of charging an EV on the public networks is now lower on average than petrol or diesel for the first time in over a year, according to new snapshot analysis from EV charging industry body ChargeUK.
Average prices for charging on the public EV charging network rose 38% between 2021 and 2025. However, with petrol prices surging in recent weeks in response to global conflict and public EV charging remaining comparatively stable, the cost of fuelling a petrol or diesel car has surpassed charging an EV on the public network in most scenarios.
The new analysis, based on RAC Fuel Watch and Zapmap Price Index figures, shows that when charging on a standard charger (such as on-street or in a local car park) at the national average cost of 54p per kWh, with typical efficiency, drivers can expect to pay around 15p per mile, compared with a current rate of 17p for a typical petrol car or 17.5p for diesel. Drivers using an 80/20 per cent mix of standard and rapid public charging will pay around 16p per mile. Only those exclusively using public ultra-rapid charging will still pay more than liquid fuel.
ChargeUK is calling on the government to address the policy issues driving up charging prices, so that cheaper EV driving is locked in for the long term, not just in a time of war. The association argues that while petrol prices are heavily influenced by global factors outside of the UK government’s control, public EV charging prices are largely inflated by policy costs that government can address.
ChargeUK’s white paper ‘Delivering Affordable Charging For All’, published in September 2025, showed that at the start of the decade charging an EV was more affordable than fuelling a petrol or diesel car regardless of whether drivers charged at home or on the public network. However, while home charging has remained low cost (as little as 2p per mile today), public EV charging has increased by 38 per cent since 2021 – driven largely by policy changes including skyrocketing standing charges.
In response to this paper, in the November budget the government committed to a review of the public cost of EV charging, which is now underway, and the charging industry hopes to see tangible outcomes from it. This is running alongside the recent Tax Tribunal ruling that the 20 per cent VAT on public EV charging should be 5 per cent, equal to home charging, which HMRC has now applied to appeal – a decision ChargeUK has called ‘disjointed and disappointing’.
The new analysis also shows that based on today’s prices, EV drivers who are reliant on public charging would be likely to pay more than petrol and diesel again after the introduction of the government’s 3p per mile eVED tax in 2028.
Vicky Read, chief executive, ChargeUK said: “While this is not how we wanted to see the gap between public EV charging and petrol prices closed, it once again demonstrates the urgent need to make driving an EV more affordable for all. Following news that new electric cars are now cheaper than petrol, the cost of public charging is now the final hurdle for mass EV adoption.”
“We need to see government take control of the situation to ensure the numbers stack up not just in a time of global crisis, but for the long term. The cost pressures currently pushing up public EV charging prices are largely within the government’s grasp, whereas the global pressures pushing up petrol and diesel prices are not.”
“By using the cost of charging review to address skyrocketing charge point standing charges, eliminating the VAT penalty on public charging and adding renewable electricity to its renewable transport credit scheme, government can help reduce public EV charging prices—saving money for millions of drivers, making an EV viable for millions more, doubling down on electrification and helping automakers meet their EV sales quotas just as interest in going electric grows.”
